Lord Archer is facing calls for an investigation by the Conservative Party into past allegations that he fiddled expenses while raising money for the United Nations Association, that he may have behaved improperly while dealing in Anglia Television shares. and that he had often been misleading about his personal details.

Lord Archer struck out against his critics in the Evening Standard newspaper, where he attempted to rebut the allegations one by one.

'Neither genius nor saint'

He said: "Heaven knows I made mistakes in my life. I am neither genius nor saint. But perhaps future profiles might mention that over recent years I have raised more than £50 million for charity, never once claiming even my own expenses."

The senior Tory backbencher, Sir Timothy Kitson, insisted that the allegations against Lord Archer were investigated after the Standard ran an article on Lord Archer in March under the headline, "Why this man is unfit to be mayor".

Lord Archer said: "The moment you get your nose in front it will be unmercifully bashed, again and again. I accept that."

Denials repeated

He denied misleading Oxford University over his qualifications for entry saying: "No, I did not obtain any A-Levels. Nor did I mislead Oxford University in telling them that I had."

Lord Archer also rejected the suggestion that he had not been a resident member of the university: "Yes, I was at Oxford, a full member of Brasenose College and yes, I did obtain a full blue in athletics."

The peer also rejected as "complete fiction" the idea that he had fiddled his expenses while fund-raising for the United Nations Association.

But he did admit he had been wrong to claim that he was the youngest councillor on the Greater London Council in 1967 and the youngest MP in 1969.

In response to the suggestion that he offered to fill out expenses forms for fellow councillors in return for 10% of the "take", Lord Archer said:

"I did help some councillors with their expenses forms ... there would have been nothing illegal or wrong about it anyway, and the sums would have been minuscule."

Insider dealing

On the question of his controversial dealings in Anglia Television shares, he said that he had not discussed the shares, or the company's activities, with his wife Mary, an Anglia director, and that he had not been involved in any wrong doing.

The matter was investigated by Department of Trade and Industry inspectors, and he was not charged because "I was totally innocent of insider dealing".

Lord Archer was at pains to dismiss the various acquisitions raised against him, saying they were simply a re-hash of those raised by Michael Crick in his unauthorised biography published several years ago.